On the day of the Great War, the residents of Salem made their way to the shelter of Vault 4. Only those registered in the vault programme were granted entrance. Some refugees reasoned that if they could wait out the twenty-year closure period, which Vault-Tec had advertised, then they would be able to find shelter when the vault opened. More than two-hundred years later the town had changed a lot. A town grew up inside the cave outside the vault, its houses made from reclaimed Vault-Tec equipment and built into the walls of the cave which have been dug out as generations of residents tried to get inside the vault. When the Sole Survivor arrives at Fourville the town is in the middle of an election where the vault has become a major point of contention. The town's incumbent mayor believes the vault will open one day, and has made this the focal point of his campaign. His challenger believes the vault is holding the town back and attempts to get inside should be abandoned. The Sole Survivor's involvement can shift the scale and change the face of the community forever.